coats, of which the uppermost is always black. Their gait is as fierce as a Franciscan friar's, and their pronunciation so broad that there is no chance of understanding them.

"At Botzen, or Bolzero, every thing assumes an Italian character.— This place was formerly celebrated for its fairs; excellent confectionaries are made here, and exported far and wide. The German language here gives way to the Italian, which to the broad Tyrolese sounds like music."

The only place of consequence, or even of comfort, in this long tract, is Innspruck, a town of 12,000 inhabitants, situated in a valley, or rather bottom, on the banks of the Inn. Brixen, so often mentioned in the reports of military operations in 1797, and subsequent years, is a wretched place, scarcely deserving the name of a town. Trent is not equal to Innspruck, but contains 8000 inhabitants, and convinces the traveller by its vineyards that he is about to bid adieu to the region of frost and snow. At Roveredo, an antiquated and ill built town, the author found himself in the enjoyment of the climate as well as of the music of Italy, and it is here accordingly that he brings his narrative to a close.

Baron D'Uklanski apologizes, in a prefatory notice, for venturing to be his own translator into English, and is perfectly aware that he must on various occasions have trespassed against our idiom. Examples of such mistakes certainly occur in several places, (pp. 26. 139. 159. 239.) in the last of which we have the curious mistake of using the word mail in the sense of the French malle, a trunk: but, on the whole, he has by no means any reason to be ashamed of his progress in our language. We are more disposed to be out of humour with him when we find the date of the battle of Blenheim put down (p. 191.) in the year 1709; and the events of the Trojan war related in the description of a picture gallery, with a minuteness which seems to suppose his readers to be unacquainted with exploits that are familiar to every school-boy. In fact, these travels have little claim to public attention as literary compositions, or as indicative of erudition on the part of the writer: but they will afford amusement during a leisure hour, by a clear, and we believe, a faithful report of the manners of several countries which are comparatively little noticed in the books of ordinary tourists.

MEMOIR OF MATTHEW GREGORY LEWIS, ESQ.

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AUTHOR OF THE MONK," &c.

THIS gentleman was the only son of Mr. Lewis, by Miss Sewell, whose family possessed a very considerable fortune, in the island of Jamaica. After living for some years together, a separation by mutual consent took place; they both agreed however, in one point, and that was a devoted attachment to their son, who was born in 1773.

The elder Mr. Lewis, at this period, held a high and lucrative situation under government, for being a man of considerable talents, great quickness, and unexampled diligence, he occupied, during many years, the post of deputy-secretary in the war-office; supposed, during the height of the American contest, besides an allowance under the name of salary, to have produced from fourteen to sixteen thousand pounds per annum! A sum unexampled at the present day! At length an inquiry having taken place, and the fees being withdrawn, he thought proper to retire, on a very handsome pension.

Young Matthew received his education at Westminster school, after which he was sent abroad, with a very liberal allowance, to learn the German, having already obtained a facility in the French. So soon as he had acquired a certain degree of familiarity with the vernacular tongue, at one of the numerous German universities, he applied himself to attain a notion of its literature, the most prominent character of which, at that period, was the wonderful, in which he himself greatly delighted. Instead of studying history, or delighting in biography, the former of which might have stored his mind with useful facts, while the latter would have afforded many brilliant examples for his future conduct, our volatile Englishman addicted himself to romance and the drama, whence he doubtless imbibed that taste for the marvellous, which never wholly abandoned him; accompanied, at the same time, with a certain looseness of expression, which at home, produced disgust instead of approbation. Accordingly, while abroad, he composed the "Monk," a work by which he himself was ever after designated. For the story, on which it is founded, he was however indebted to his nativecountry; it having originated from a tale in the Guardian.

This publication which appeared soon after his return to England, attracted no small degree of attention. The pruriency of several of the passages, was greatly condemned by some, while others, overlooking this licentiousness, in the first production of a very young man, praised him on account of his early genius.

It was deemed prudent, however, to call in all the copies possible to be obtained; as many parts of the story did not exactly comport with our manners, were not deemed proper for the youth of either sex, and seem but little adapted to the pen of a legislator. It has been said, indeed, that one of our societies for the protection of morals, threatened a prosecution, and that the attorney-general of that day, actually commenced one, in the court of King's Bench.

Nearly at the same time, Mr. Lewis, instigated partly by hope, and partly by curiosity, determined to obtain a seat in parliament; and he was accordingly returned for the borough of Hindon, where he was utterly unknown. But if his mind was fired with ambition, on this occasion, he experienced nothing but disappointment; for he had not been formed either by nature or education, to exhibit that popular species of eloquence, which finds admirers either on one side or another of the house of commons. He accordingly sat during a whole parliament, without attracting public notice, or even endeavouring to render himself distinguished. At the dissolution therefore, he retired, from a situation in which the expense proved both great and certain, while no possible advantage could be expected.

Mr. Lewis had no sooner retired from his political duties, than he applied himself to those of a far different but more congenial kind. Having, as has already been observed, failed in the house of commons, he now deigned to court applause in the theatre, and the ex-member for Hindon, in 1797, accordingly obtained great success in Drury Lane, by his "Castle Spectre," a musical drama, which drew crowded and applauding houses. He afterwards composed several tragedies and comedies, and on the loss of the gallant sir John Moore, published a poetical tribute to his memory.

On the death of his father, Mr. Lewis came into the possession of very considerable plantations in the West Indies, besides a large VOL. VII.

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sum in money. The former of these bequests imposed a duty upon him, and he accordingly determined to fulfil it, in a manner highly honourable to himself. On this occasion perhaps, the ardour of his imagination proved highly favourable to the best interests of humanity. He was now the master of several hundred slaves, daily subjugated to the whips of their black drivers, who were urged, perhaps, by the cruelty, the caprice, or the malevolence of a white task-master, insensible to pity, and hardened by long residence, under a scorching sun, and the contagion of example, into the grossest insensibility. Was he to remain a co-partner with these men in guilt? Was he to trust a "gang," as it is called, of negroes, entirely to their management and discretion? Was he to be a participator, although both a distant and unconscious one, in their crimes? Actuated by these generous ideas, he determined to trust no longer to the interested reports of others. Instigated by the noblest, most delicate, and most benign feelings, he resolved to encounter all the inconveniences of a long voyage, and all the dangers of an unhealthy season, in compliance with what he deemed an imperative duty! Mr. Lewis accordingly embarked in 1817, for Jamaica, and after a residence of some time there, took his passage for England. But the climate had already inflicted a mortal disease, and he died in the spring of 1818, while passing through the gulf of Florida.

He was never married, and yet seemed calculated to render that state happy; for his manners were elegant, his wit sparkling, and his conversation polished and agreeable. In his person he was small, but his face was expressive, and his eye keen and penetrating.

Thus died, at the age of forty-five, Matthew Gregory Lewis, a martyr to the cause of humanity. Instigated solely by the commendable desire of ascertaining the happiness or misery of the negro slaves on his plantations, he passed the tropic, and encountered the maladies incident to a climate but little favourable to European constitutions. Alas, the result is not yet, and perhaps never will be known. It is impossible to find either comfort or morals in a state of bondage, and this truth has been consecrated by Homer, more than three thousand years ago. The song and the dance, when the mind is diverted for a moment from its miseries,

are but very equivocal proofs of happiness: for we perceive, at this very moment, in some remote portions of Europe itself, many unhappy men, born in a state of villenage, who dance to the clink of their own chains! What the deductions made by personal inspection might have been, we are still ignorant of; but if he determined to alleviate their present sufferings, to encourage marriage, to promote morals, to afford rewards for meritorious actions, and, above all, to enfranchise, by degrees, the miserable animals (for men they cannot be called) consigned to his protection, he deserves no common degree of applause. In this case, we pronounce him to have been actuated with principles worthy of that best species of heroes-not the destroyers, but the benefactors of the human species.

At any rate, Mr. Lewis deserves a high degree of praise; for he is, perhaps, the first Englishman who ever crossed the Atlantic for the purpose of inquiring into the precise state of those consigned by Providence to his mercy and compassion. May his example incite others to follow so bright a model; and although their motive cannot be more pure, we trust that their fate will prove less disastrous!

List of the works of the late M. G. Lewis, Esq.

The Monk, a romance, 3 vols. 1795.-Village Virtues, a Drama, 4to. 1796.-Castle Spectre, a Musical Drama, 1797.-The Minister, a Tragedy, from the German of Schiller, 8vo. 1797.Rolla, a Tragedy, 8vo. 1799.-The East Indian, a Tragedy, 8vo, 1799. The Love of Gain, a Poem, 4to. 1799.-The East Indian, a Comedy, 8vo. 1800.-Adelmorn, or the Outlaw, a Drama, 8vo. 1801.-Alfonzo, a Tragedy, 8vo. 1801.-Tales of Winter, 2 vols. 8vo. 1804.-The Bravo of Venice, a Romance, 8vo. 1804.-Rugantio, a Melo-Drama, 8vo. 1805.-Adelgitha, a Play, 8vo. 1806. -Feudal Tyrants, a Romance, 4 vols. 12mo. 1806.-Tales of Terror, 3 vols.-Romantic Tales, 4 vols. 12mo.-Venoni, a Drama, 1809-Monody on sir John Moore, 8vo.-One o'clock, or the Knight and Wood Demon, a Historical Romance, 8vo. 1811. Timour the Tartar, a Melo-drama, 8vo. 1812.-Poems 8vo. 1812. -Rich and Poor, a Comic Opera, 1812.